Ordinary Life
by Clez
Summary: Cursed. After everything that’s happened, Jimmy finds himself wondering whether or not things are looking up, even with recent events.


**Author's Note:** Suddenly wanted to write a _Cursed_ ficlet, and one for Jimmy, who doesn't seem to get all that much attention from what I've seen. But he was pretty much my favourite character, so I decided to give him some attention myself XD Ahem… that came out wrong.

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**ORDINARY LIFE**

Closing the door behind him, he let out a low breath, smiling crookedly. He laughed quietly, and shook his head, his tousled brown hair falling somewhat in his eyes, only to be ignored. He actually rather preferred this style to what he had had… before. Before all the chaos of the past… however long it had been. His mind was in a little bit of a mess now, and even as he heard his sister in the kitchen, his head rose from where it had dropped. He had been leaning against the front door, but now, he pushed off, and headed through the hallway, his eyes finding their focus drawn upward, to the ceiling. He cringed. He'd kinda ruined the finish a little with his… claws.

He looked down at his hands, his eyes fixing on his right palm; now perfectly normal and unmarked, save for the veins and natural flaws in the skin. Looking up as he crossed the kitchen threshold, he saw Ellie regarding the tattered rags on the ground; burned and ruined.

Jake's clothes.

Swallowing the – perhaps guilty – lump in his throat, he cleared it, and crossed his arms loosely over his lean chest. Ellie's eyes lifted, and met his across the distance, and she seemed to snap out of her reverie, offering her younger brother a somewhat forced smile.

"You okay?" he found himself asking, eyes narrowing a little in concern. He hadn't realised or really thought about it before, but now he was more or less absolutely certain that Ellie had loved Jake. Of course, in the end, that hadn't mattered; it had been a choice between life and… death… for him anyway.

'There can only be one Alpha male,' Jake had said, before coming to the basement door. Jimmy remembered looking up, in pain from the transformation that had been tearing at his insides for the first – and last – time. It had felt like his bones and organs had been ripping themselves apart and reshaping. He supposed he would never really know what had been happening during that time, given that it would never happen again. They had killed Jake… he had started it all, and therefore, ended it all with his death.

"I'm fine, Jimmy," she assured him, going back to sweeping and cleaning up. He noticed she was avoiding the point where Jake _had_ been laying in his last moments, and with a faint frown and sigh, he moved forward, took up a garbage sack, and went about putting the remains into it. The dustpan was emptied into the bag, and he noticed his sister watching him. Their eyes met again, and then hers dropped to her right hand.

"It's over," he reminded her, smiling for reassurance. "It's finished."

She nodded, clearly distracted, and in her own little world.

Jimmy, crouched in the middle of the kitchen floor, looked around. She had cleaned up most of the mess. Everything was off the floor now, which could be picked up. Including the silver cake slice – of all things – that had been the beginning of the end. Jimmy suddenly realised that the sooner he stopped thinking about it all, the sooner he could get on with his life.

A life that was suddenly looking up, given that he had just walked Brooke home. He smiled, and noticed Ellie watching him with a smile of her own.

"What?" he asked, feeling the heat rush into his face a little as he stood and dusted his hands on his pants.

"Nothing," she said, flicking her hair back over her shoulder casually. While she was clearly lying, he wasn't about to argue that with her, and saw her look around, before she added with a stifled yawn, "I think I'm going to try and get some sleep; finish this tomorrow." Obviously, she wanted a fresh start… in more ways than one. Jimmy nodded, in confirmation.

"Good idea."

With that, Ellie headed out of the room, even as Zipper trotted in, looking up at Jimmy with big brown eyes and a lolling tongue. He chuckled, and called the dog to him. It came over, and he traced his fingers through the golden coat, smiling happily. With his and Ellie's cure had come Zipper's… and with Zipper had come Brooke; at least tonight.

"Of all the people to run into," he muttered to the dog as he looked down at the retriever. "Not that I'm complaining." He patted Zipper gratefully, and said, "Good boy."

Glancing around only once more, he took the garbage sacks, and headed out to the curb to dumb them. The sooner it all got disposed of, the better. The sooner Ellie could forget about Jake, the better.

And the sooner Jimmy could get to bed, the better. It was a school day tomorrow.

He had to meet Brooke in the morning.

Turning back into the house, Jimmy couldn't get rid of his smirk.

Life was getting back to normal… and _definitely_ looking up.

**_Fin_**


End file.
